The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into whether conditions inside Los Angeles County’s notoriously decrepit Men’s Central Jail violate the Constitution and federal law.
The investigation will focus on “the facility itself” and not on the deputies who staff it, according to the DOJ.
“Whether a person is held in a county jail, awaiting trial or after conviction, the environmental conditions in that jail need to meet constitutional standards,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement.
Dhillon, Attorney General Todd Blanche and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli notified Sheriff Robert Luna of the probe in a letter Wednesday, Sept. 9. The notice states the investigation will specifically look at whether the county violates the Eighth and 14th amendments of the Constitution “by failing to provide environmentally safe, humane and habitable conditions for prisoners incarcerated at MCJ.”
The Eighth Amendment restricts “cruel and unusual punishment,” while the 14th Amendment prohibits the deprivation of “life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
“We have not reached any conclusion about the subject matter of this investigation,” the letter states. “We encourage the County to cooperate with our investigation and assure you we will seek to minimize any potential disruption our investigation may have on County operations.”
The poor conditions at Men’s Central Jail are well known and documented. Since 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has called for the closure of the aging facility, first built in 1963, without a replacement, but the county has struggled to meet the jail population reductions necessary to make such a dramatic shift possible. Recent reports suggest reaching those goals could take another five years and cost another $1.5 billion.
In the meantime, inmates in Men’s Central Jail, many of whom have yet to be sentenced, continue to die at alarming rates. Roughly half of the 27 deaths so far this year occurred at MCJ, though only about 30% of the county’s 12,734 inmates are housed in that facility.
Last year, the California Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against the county over the “unsafe and unconstitutional conditions” inside its jails. That case has not progressed at all since then, however, due to questions about whether the case should be heard in federal or county courts.
In a statement, the Sheriff’s Department acknowledged the DOJ’s new investigation and pledged to cooperate fully. The department stated it continues to proactively implement reforms at MCJ, though the facility “presents significant operational and infrastructure challenges that don’t align with current custodial standards.”
“We are proud of the progress we have made, while recognizing there is more work ahead,” the statement reads.
Sheriff Luna has pushed to replace MCJ with what he calls a “Correctional Care Center” designed around clinical care, treatment and wraparound services rather than confinement, according to the department. The DOJ’s narrow focus on the facility, rather than those operating it, could lend support to Luna’s position.
“Roughly half of the individuals judicially referred to our care have significant medical or mental health needs,” LASD’s statement reads. “Closing MCJ without the creation of appropriate treatment and housing capacity essential needs would simply result in overcrowding within other existing facilities.”
In a statement, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn reiterated her support for closing MCJ.
“Men’s Central Jail is an outdated and decrepit facility that puts both our Sheriff’s deputies and inmates at risk,” Hahn said. “My colleagues and I on the Board of Supervisors have long been committed to shutting it down. However, until then, we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone incarcerated there is safe, cared for, and treated with basic human dignity.”
Supervisor Kathryn Barger wasn’t surprised by the DOJ’s investigation, calling the facility “antiquated, inhumane and unfit for our workforce and those incarcerated there” in a separate statement.
Barger supported the board’s votes to close MCJ without a replacement, but she has also remained open to the idea of a new facility, despite her colleagues’ more vocal opposition. The county cannot meet its constitutional duties to provide safe and humane conditions in a building “that was never designed for it,” she said in a statement.
“Until this Board of Supervisors agrees that a replacement facility is necessary and shuts down the jail, we will continue to be plagued by these types of issues,” she stated.
Haley Broder, chair of the Sybil Brand Commission, which routinely conducts jail inspections in L.A. County, describes Men’s Central Jail as a “public health crisis.”
“You walk into Men’s Central Jail and you smell burning immediately, there are fires lit, it is hard to breathe,” she said. “It is covered in visible mold. There is feces on the walls. There is trash throughout the cells.”
Broder worries an earthquake or fire could trap inmates and staff inside as doors and gates often are broken.
During a recent visit, an inmate disclosed that his asthma had worsened since he was placed in the facility. A vent in his cell was completely covered in dirt and grime. Access to cleaning supplies is limited, she said.
The department began bringing in outside cleaning staff more regularly in the past month, rather than relying on inmates to clean the facility. “That is a step in the right direction,” Broder said.
LASD indicated it has “invested more than $300 million in custodial maintenance and pest control, including increasing cleaning from once a month to five times a month.”
Broder does not agree that a new facility will make a difference, however, and supports closing MCJ without a replacement. The Sheriff’s Department runs other, newer facilities, such as the all-female Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, yet conditions there are also “horrifying, decrepit and not humane,” she said.
“It is not the building alone, it is about how the building is and how the county cares about the people who are inside these buildings,” she said.